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New HDTV, should I just go VGA Out?
http://forum.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18393		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  jac1d [ Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:45 pm ]
Post subject:  New HDTV, should I just go VGA Out?
A new baby in the house means time to get rid of some excess furniture and it has been decided that our 36" Sony Wega, all 200+ lbs of it, falls in to that category.

I'm planning on buying a Samsunrg 32" 1080p LCD TV to put on a shelf as a replacement. At the same time I think I'll rebuild my Myth box.

As the TV will have a VGA input, would I be better off just using that instead of bothering with a TV out/svideo connection, or even HDMI?

I was considering doing a compact little system based on an AMD 780G chipset with the integrated graphics and a single 750GB HD. Thoughts?

-Jeff
Author:  tjc [ Sun Jun 08, 2008 1:18 pm ]
Post subject: 
Linux doesn't have real HDMI support (yet). There are some adapter boxes you can use to get the audio merged in. Search for "HDMI" to find recent threads on the topic.

DVI would be my first choice if your video card supports it.

VGA is next down the list, although you may find that with VGA the monitor lies about it capabilities and tells the card less than it's real native resolution.

SVideo and Composite are #s 3 & 4. Sending that whizzy HDTV an SDTV signal is almost criminal. ;-)
Author:  jorin [ Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:59 pm ]
Post subject: 
I agree with tjc.

Also, stay away from Component inputs.

Check with the vendor on the ability to do 1to1 pixel mapping. This essentially makes the TV a monitor and does away with overscanning that plagues HDTV and the older SD standard. (Should have never been part of the standard.)

Currently DVI and VGA are the best methods of connecting your box. Send the audio to an amp and let it do its job.

For ease of setup stick with an Nvidia 5200 up card and a 3Ghz or faster CPU. 800Mhz bus speed or higher. You may want to check the forums for good compatible stuff.

Just to toss out some info. Just because a TV states that it can display 1080P doesn't mean that it has a native resolution of 1920X1080. Read the fine print!
Author:  ceenvee703 [ Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
Just two additions: the digital video signal over DVI is effectively compatible with the digital video signal over HDMI, so if your new TV doesn't have DVI inputs, you can still use a DVI video card with a simple DVI to HDMI cable. (However, some TVs assume you're hooking a computer up if you use a VGA input and may only support 1:1 pixel mapping via VGA).

Second, just because the TV can display 1080p doesn't mean it'll accept 1080p... double check that too.
Author:  jzigmyth [ Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:52 pm ]
Post subject: 
jorin wrote:
Also, stay away from Component inputs.
Could you elaborate on the drawbacks of component inputs with Mythtv?
Thanks.
Author:  thornsoft [ Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:17 pm ]
Post subject: 
jzigmyth wrote:
jorin wrote:
Also, stay away from Component inputs.
Could you elaborate on the drawbacks of component inputs with Mythtv?
Thanks.


IMO, Component is fine. Not to be confused with COMPOSITE. Component is still HD. Composite and S-Video are SD, and are basically VCR quality.

If your VGA works right, that'll be fine. But sometimes VGA maps funny, or forces a silly resolution like 1024x768, and looks like crap. In that case, Component would be preferable (very much so).

But with any modern set, you should be able to use DVI or HDMI as input, and go out from the PC as DVI or HDMI (with a converter if needed - they're cheap, as they just pass-thru the video signal).
Author:  jorin [ Sun Jun 08, 2008 11:55 pm ]
Post subject: 
thornsoft wrote:
jzigmyth wrote:
jorin wrote:
Also, stay away from Component inputs.
Could you elaborate on the drawbacks of component inputs with Mythtv?
Thanks.


IMO, Component is fine. Not to be confused with COMPOSITE. Component is still HD. Composite and S-Video are SD, and are basically VCR quality.

If your VGA works right, that'll be fine. But sometimes VGA maps funny, or forces a silly resolution like 1024x768, and looks like crap. In that case, Component would be preferable (very much so).

But with any modern set, you should be able to use DVI or HDMI as input, and go out from the PC as DVI or HDMI (with a converter if needed - they're cheap, as they just pass-thru the video signal).


It all boils down to ease of use and setup. Spend your time researching.

Isn't there a list on the AVS forums that give some good info on HTPC compatible HDTVs?
Author:  jimdoc [ Mon Jun 09, 2008 7:42 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'm now in the market for a replacement HDTV. My 1.5 year old Westinghouse LTV-37w2 bit the big one a couple of weeks ago.

I had been using VGA on the Westy. I had poor luck getting DVI->HDMI working properly at native resolution (99.9% sure it was my problem). The VGA just worked for me. The only issue I've had was an extra resolution entry that was causing a "virtual horizontal scrolling desktop" to be created. A simple xorg.conf file edit fixed that.

I got a DVI->HDMI cable cheap at monoprice. I tried it, but I gave up before completely getting it to work at full/native resolution.

HDMI/DVI will be the best quality (all digital), but I thought the picture with VGA was great (and simple for me). But make sure you've got a good VGA cable. I have seen some issues/ghosting/noise when using an old/kinked VGA cable. Some might say that I don't know what a 'great' picture is if I have a Westy :-)

Before I got the Westy I was using S-Video to my old 27" tube TV (analog set). That too just worked for me.

My system is a near Dragon 1.0 (AMD 64 3200+, NVidia 6200TC, dual PCHD-3000). Will such a system support 1080p output?

I've been quite happy with my old 720p setup. Any reason to go 1080p? I don't have any Blue-Ray plans. So I don't/won't have any 1080p content.

While looking at some sets recently, I noticed that some 720p sets will accept 1080p inputs! I can't imagine a 1080p device that can't output at 1080i/720p, but maybe the mfg thinks they've got a good 'down-scaler'.
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